An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 eBook

into the House of Commons with a view to its
settlement, and over and over again they have
been cushioned or silently withdrawn. If the question
can be satisfactorily settled, why let it be
so, and let us conciliate the people of Ireland
by wise and honorable means. The subject of the
Irish Church must also be considered. I hold in
my hand an extract from the report of the commissioner
of the Dublin Freeman’s Journal,
who is now examining the question. It stated
what will be to you almost incredible—­namely,
that the population of the united dioceses of
Cashel, Emly, Waterford, and Lismore is 370,978,
and that of those only 13,000 are members of the Established
Church, while 340,000 are Roman Catholics. If
you had read of this state of things existing
in any other country, you would call out loudly
against it. Such a condition of things, in which
large revenues are devoted, not for the good of the
many, but the few, if it does not justify Fenianism,
certainly does justify a large measure of discontent.
I am aware of the difficulties in the way of
settling the question, owing to the fear of a collision
between Protestants and Catholics; but I think
Parliament ought to have the power to make the
Irish people contented.”

This speech, I believe, affords a fair idea of the
opinion of educated and unprejudiced Englishmen on
the Irish question. They do not know much about
Irish history; they have heard a great deal about Irish
grievances, and they have a vague idea that there is
something wrong about the landlords, and something
wrong about the ecclesiastical arrangements of the
country. I believe a careful study of Irish history
is essential to the comprehension of the Irish question;
and it is obviously the moral duty of every man who
has a voice in the government of the nation, to make
himself master of the subject. I believe there
are honest and honorable men in England, who would
stand aghast with horror if they thoroughly understood
the injustices to which Ireland has been and still
is subject. The English, as a nation, profess
the most ardent veneration for liberty. To be
a patriot, to desire to free one’s country,
unless, indeed, that country happen to have some very
close connexion with their own, is the surest way
to obtain ovations and applause. It is said that
circumstances alter cases; they certainly alter opinions,
but they do not alter facts. An Englishman applauds
and assists insurrection in countries where they profess
to have for their object the freedom of the individual
or of the nation; he imprisons and stifles it at home,
where the motive is precisely similar, and the cause,
in the eyes of the insurgents at least, incomparably
more valid. But I do not wish to raise a vexed
question, or to enter on political discussions; my
object in this Preface is simply to bring before the
minds of Englishmen that they have a duty to perform
towards Ireland—­a duty which they cannot
cast aside on others—­a duty which it may